Custody Time Determination in Williams v. Beverly (2019)

Law is one profession in which the phrase “I’ve seen it all” can never apply. No matter how many cases a lawyer sees throughout their career, a case with an entirely novel scenario can show up at any moment. Given the vastness and complexity of life, there is simply no shortage of factual permutations and possibilities which can arise. Regarding child custody in Maryland family law, the law essentially operates according to many fixed principles, chief among those is the “best interests of the child standard.” This principle reigns supreme in child custody, regardless of whatever factual scenario unfolds. In this post, we will closely examine a recent family law case in Maryland in which they added a layer to our construction of this key child custody principle.

Factual Overview of the Case

In the case of Williams v. Beverly (2019), the co-parents of the case were never married but developed a visitation schedule after their separation. The father desired more overnight visitation time to facilitate relationships between his child and his side of the family. However, the father’s work schedule involved several late shifts. Consequently, he had to obtain a babysitter for some of the overnights with his child. The mother objected and claimed this was contrary to her rights as a parent. She claimed that because the husband was allowing his mother or brother to watch their child, the father was effectively taking away her parental rights and giving them to others.In other words, because the father was unable to remain with his child at all times during visitation, she asserted that she should be allowed to exercise her parental rights and take the child during the father’s late shifts. The trial and appellate courts rejected the mother’s argument.

Lesson: Babysitting is Not Visitation

The court emphasized that a parent’s visitation isn’t dependent on constant supervision or physical availability. If, for instance, a parent needs to have a babysitter during visitation for whatever reason, this enlistment of a babysitter is well within that parent’s parental rights. If a co-parent allows a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or another person to babysit during a graveyard shift, that is not equivalent to granting that babysitter rights, which are superior to the other co-parent. It is simply an expression of the initial co-parent’s parenting authority.

Main Lesson: Visitation is Based on the Best Interests of the Child

The mother argued that the father’s schedule provided sufficient reason to limit visitation, but the court rejected this argument. The court emphasized that the primary principle that guides visitation is the child’s best interests. And a child’s best interests can still theoretically be served even when a parent has to work a late shift. The father argued that having the child overnight, even on late shifts, would foster closer relationships with the child’s paternal relatives. The court concluded that the father’s logic was sound and that this reason was more consistent with the best interests of the child’s standard. Consequently, the mother’s argument failed, and the father’s visitation schedule was upheld.

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